"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." (KJV)

"And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." (NKJV)

Aggressive atheists, those who are "evangelical", love to charge Christians for making remarks such as, "well if it appears to be a contradiction, we just don't understand what it is saying". The problem is, that is a truthful phrase. I've used it myself on occasion. All it means is that we are so confident in the word of God being infallible, that we know something is wrong if it appears to contradict itself. I have run into cases where I could not explain a scripture which they bring up. But whenever it has happened, I start digging until I come up with the factual details of it. Right now, I don't know of one of their juicy scriptures that they feel is an error, that I cannot give the answer to.

Many of you have heard of Farrell Till, I'm sure. He is the fellow, now 74 years old, who received B.A. and M.A degrees from Harding University and preached for some time, was a missionary for a few years and then turned atheist. He has been more avid and evangelistic with his atheism than he was as a "gospel" preacher. I was reading one of his articles the other day and although he has hundreds of errors he has found in the Bible, he has as his clinchers, the one's I have titled this article with. In Deuteronomy 14:7, you find this: "Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you."

Mr. Till jumps for joy (a difficult feat when you are as old as he is) because the hare and the coney do not chew the cud as it says here. Let's just see what the actual facts are. Mr. Till knows what they are, but as he accuses us of ignoring things, here he is too elated to think straight. The coney is a tiny tailess animal who resides in the mountains of Syria and, I am told, some are in the mountainous areas of northwestern the U.S. An animal similar to a hampster. The Hare is a large rabbit somewhat like the western plains Jack Rabbit, with really big ears.

Now, animals that really chew the cud, such as cows, camels, etc., are called ruminants. they have stomachs that have multiple chambers. Certain of their foods that are easily digested go into a designated chamber and are digested and enter the system. However, green grass, hay, etc., are more difficult to digest and as it is chewed, it is formed into a small ball and enters one chamber of the stomach, then later is regurgitated and rechewed and then swallowed into another chamber where it is then fully digested.

Rabbits and hares (and coneys) have the same problem with digesting vegetation as do the ruminants, however, they do not have chambered stomachs and they have an entirely different method of efficiently digesting these foods. This is called coprophy, and is a process that goes like this. The rough hard to digest vegetation goes into their stomach and forms into tiny soft pills that cluster togther in secretion that forms a small wad, and when excreted via the rectum, the animal receives it in his mouth without it dropping to the floor or ground and sends it again through the stomach and digestive process. Biologists say that this digestive process is almost identical to the ruminants except for the fact that the rabbits do not regurgitate the materials but pass it out through the rectum. This process, it is said, takes place in the very early hours of the morning and is therefore rarely seen by rabbit owners or anyone else not engaged in studying the situation.

Farrell Till knows this, although I doubt that he did when he first decided that he had found a biblical error. I don't think the Holy Spirit would have directed Moses to write all that I have written above, especially since the people of that day probably had never heard of any of this process. He was merely sorting out the ones which had to run the vegetation through their digestive system twice.

I have dealt with the 4 legged grasshopper before, but I will run through it briefly in my musing column below.

I hope that those of you who have an interst in publishing an article will go ahead and try it. A couple of readers have already done so. But, if you do please go to one of my articles to click on the "New Authors Register Here" link, just to the left of my photo. I'm supposed to get credit for any author that registers from one of my article pages. So far, they have given me no credit. It doesn't pay anything, but they will name me a featured author for it. Whatever good that does. Here's the link to my list of articles, but please go on to one of them before registering. http://searchwarp.com/Author94099.htm

Several years ago there was an article in the newspaper about a school teacher in a city in Alaska who lost his job because of his lengthy record being tardy for his classes. It was revealed that the teacher had a real problem about being hard to wake up in the mornings. His wife related that it was nearly impossible to awaken her husband. Instead of one alarm clock, several were used but to no avail. Various methods were also used to arouse him from a deep sleep but such were generally unsuccessful. This individual stated that his problem was inherited and was actually a sickness. One could not help but have some sadness in learning about his plight. But on the other hand the story could be considered humorous except for the seriousness of the matter. I am reminded of the passage in Proverbs 20:13 which reads, “Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty; Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with bread.”

The ‘sleeping teacher’ is not alone. The church is blessed with many ‘sleeping brethren’ who are very difficult to arouse out of slumber. I speak not simply of physical encephalitis. Spiritual sleepiness is quite often manifested by the outward actions. Take for example members who drag in late for the periods of Bible study on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening (that is if they come at all). If they treated their employers in the same manner they treat the Lord they like the teacher would be fired from their jobs. And there is the slothful singing of many Christians that is indicative of a drowsy heart. There were members of the church in Corinth who lived in such a manner and who manifested a very low interest in the worship, especially in the failure to rightly discern the body of Jesus while partaking of the Lord’s Supper that Paul wrote in I Corinthians 11:30, “For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.” That is to say they were dead spiritually speaking. The spirit of Eutychus is still with us also (Acts 20:9). Jokingly we often say that after the preacher’s sermon there is a ‘great awakening’. How often have you endeavored to get brethren to work and they habitually drag their feet. The root of the problem is not so much a physical malady as it a diseased heart. It is rank apathy and lethargy, that is, a state of drowsiness and listlessness brought on by a lack of concern for spiritual matters. The exhortation given by the apostle Paul in Romans 12:11 is “not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.”

I well remember the unique manner of one of my college instructors in awakening students from their slumber during class. He would speak loudly the student’s name and then he would quote the passage found in Ephesians 5:14, “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”

Brethren we need to know “that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.” Otherwise it is most likely that many members will be found lacking on the Day of Judgment

(Raymond Elliot worships and works with the Lord's church in Prattville, Alabama)

A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog...Jack London

Believe nothing against another but on good authority; and never report what may hurt another, unless it be a greater hurt to some other to conceal it...William Penn

"All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you. Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth; Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind. But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you."

Till and others like him love this passage. They jump first onto the word fowl...A fowl that creeps? A fowl that goes on all fours? Well, let's get it out of the way first. The word fowl here is translated from the hebrew "owph" which has a meaning of: flying creatures, fowl, insects, birds. So, you see, if birds don't have four legs then this verse doesn't concern them.

Their next whoo-haw is the grasshopper which is listed under "every flying creeping thing that goeth on all four..." Here, they make such a to-do about nothing. They cannot read. And even if they can't they should know the solution to this one. Immediately after the goeth on all four, the verse plainly says "...which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth;" The word 'above' in this sentence would be more plain if it was translated "in addition to".

The grasshopper does indeed go on all four little tiny legs with feet. The huge legs (in addition to his feet) have a barbed segment with which to give him immense leaping power. He does not walk with these legs. The only action you will see out of those legs when he is walking is merely bringing them along. There is no way those legs could be of assistance in walking. Notice when one walks, tiny little steps that only make him creep.

The Douay-Rheims Bible translates the verse thusly: "But whatsoever walketh upon four feet, but hath the legs behind longer, wherewith it hoppeth upon the earth,"

A KID, returning without protection from the pasture, was pursued by a Wolf. Seeing he could not escape, he turned round, and said: "I know, friend Wolf, that I must be your prey, but before I die I would ask of you one favor you will play me a tune to which I may dance." The Wolf complied, and while he was piping and the Kid was dancing, some hounds hearing the sound ran up and began chasing the Wolf. Turning to the Kid, he said, "It is just what I deserve; for I, who am only a butcher, should not have turned piper to please you."

In time of dire need, clever thinking is key or outwit your enemy to save your skin...Aesop